Likes...

He lacks commitment in terms of desire to wear the shirt, win tackles and take control of the area he's responsible for. I wonder whether he switched off after Koeman left? I'd move him on if he doesn't want to be part of the team.

Just to provide a bit of a counterargument, people criticise him (and McCarthy) for not playing a forward pass but (a) he's almost certainly under strict instructions not to lose possession at all costs and (b) there's usually fuck all movement in front of him and he's probably under strict instructions not to pass to anyone that's marked.

Though in response to the original question, he's nowhere near good enough to run the centre of the pitch for us, particularly if the person next to him is someone utterly lacking in creativity like Gueye.

He's a fucking coward. The biggest shithouse I've ever seen in a blue shirt. I'll quite happily drive the twat to Dover and put him on a cross channel ferry with his P45 if I never have to see him in a blue shirt again

Just to provide a bit of a counterargument, people criticise him (and McCarthy) for not playing a forward pass but (a) he's almost certainly under strict instructions not to lose possession at all costs and (b) there's usually fuck all movement in front of him and he's probably under strict instructions not to pass to anyone that's marked.

Spot on. I do think Schneiderlin is a bit rubbish but even Iniesta could not do anything for us when the players in front of him can't be arsed moving into space. Mind you, you may well ask "what space?" as we are too slow to transition effectively.

Just to provide a bit of a counterargument, people criticise him (and McCarthy) for not playing a forward pass but (a) he's almost certainly under strict instructions not to lose possession at all costs and (b) there's usually fuck all movement in front of him and he's probably under strict instructions not to pass to anyone that's marked.

Though in response to the original question, he's nowhere near good enough to run the centre of the pitch for us, particularly if the person next to him is someone utterly lacking in creativity like Gueye.

He's played the same way under three different managers, though.

When you're picking the ball up, putting your foot on it and completely slowing the game down you're going to have limited options in playing the ball forward.

That's what Barry was so good at. Picking it up from the centre half and releasing the ball quickly to the three infront of him.

Likes...

I think he is a good player, not only were Man Utd prepared to pay nearly £25m for him but so did we 18 months later.

He did well last season after he came in the January window. However I really do not know what has happened to him this season and why it has gone so wrong. I thought Koeman would probably be the manager to get the best out of him but even he performed poorly before Koeman was sacked.

Maybe he just lacks the bottle and determination and is just one of those players that you just cannot rely on unless the rest of the team are playing well (which has been rare this seasons). I thought he would have tried to make a huge effort to try and get back into the France squad for the World Cup.

Likes...

When you take stock of our squad, who do we really have that moves the ball forward effectively from deep?

Rooney? Baines? Davies? Keane? That's grim.

There's a real lack of care to how this squad was constructed. All of our players might be good in an absolute terms but they don't complement each other at all. There's room in the team for a safe ball-mover in defensive midfield but that player will look pretty bad if there's no one else to move it forward effectively.

Schneiderlin doesn't help his cause by hiding from the ball and generally looking off the pace. But a big part of the reason things feel so toxic is that it's near impossible to put out a functional eleven with this group of players.

And our recruitment team seems totally ignorant of the issue. We've gone for goalscorers when what we really need is midfielders, wingers, and full backs who get us into the final third consistently. Walcott and Tosun might be good but they aren't fixing what's really broken.

I think he is a good player, not only were Man Utd prepared to pay nearly £25m for him but so did we 18 months later.

He did well last season after he came in the January window. However I really do not know what has happened to him this season and why it has gone so wrong. I thought Koeman would probably be the manager to get the best out of him but even he performed poorly before Koeman was sacked.

Maybe he just lacks the bottle and determination and is just one of those players that you just cannot rely on unless the rest of the team are playing well (which has been rare this seasons). I thought he would have tried to make a huge effort to try and get back into the France squad for the World Cup.

Ask any Man U fan about him. He had been frozen out there as he was spineless. They were pissing their pants when we gave them £25m for him

When you take stock of our squad, who do we really have that moves the ball forward effectively from deep?

Rooney? Baines? Davies? Keane? That's grim.

There's a real lack of care to how this squad was constructed. All of our players might be good in an absolute terms but they don't complement each other at all. There's room in the team for a safe ball-mover in defensive midfield but that player will look pretty bad if there's no one else to move it forward effectively.

Schneiderlin doesn't help his cause by hiding from the ball and generally looking off the pace. But a big part of the reason things feel so toxic is that it's near impossible to put out a functional eleven with this group of players.

And our recruitment team seems totally ignorant of the issues. We've gone for goalscorers when what we really need is midfielders, wingers, and full backs (i.e. anybody) who get us into the final third consistently. Walcott and Tosun might be good but they aren't fixing what's really broken.

We did need a goalscorer as well. Get all the midfielders and wingers you want but we're not mounting a top 4 challenge with DCL or Niasse leading the line.

When you're picking the ball up, putting your foot on it and completely slowing the game down you're going to have limited options in playing the ball forward.

That's what Barry was so good at. Picking it up from the centre half and releasing the ball quickly to the three infront of him.

Yeah true, I think that's more his limitation than him being a shithouse though. Just don't think he has the speed or vision of a Barry or Rooney to see that forward ball quickly enough to play someone in whilst they're still open.

When you take stock of our squad, who do we really have that moves the ball forward effectively from deep?

Rooney? Baines? Davies? Keane? That's grim.

There's a real lack of care to how this squad was constructed. All of our players might be good in an absolute terms but they don't complement each other at all. There's room in the team for a safe ball-mover in defensive midfield but that player will look pretty bad if there's no one else to move it forward effectively.

Schneiderlin doesn't help his cause by hiding from the ball and generally looking off the pace. But a big part of the reason things feel so toxic is that it's near impossible to put out a functional eleven with this group of players.

And our recruitment team seems totally ignorant of the issues. We've gone for goalscorers when what we really need is midfielders, wingers, and full backs (i.e. anybody) who get us into the final third consistently. Walcott and Tosun might be good but they aren't fixing what's really broken.

Yeah agree, I think he would be easier to watch if he had an agressive passer or dribbler near him.

His decent performances were with Barkley in midfield I think I remember correctly? Barkley is a good old fashioned ball hog. Wants on it constantly and thinks he can do something on it every time he gets it, so schneiderlein was free to either give it straight to Barkley or switch play which he likes to do.

And this year I DO think he’s looked a bit better next to rooney who is similarly a ball hog.

Needs someone next to him who just sucks the ball away from him immediately and allows him to be a safe, accurate passer.

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I knew that someday I was going to die, and I knew that before I died, two things would happen to me. That number one; I would regret my entire life, and number two; that I would want to live my life over again.